On their website, Matt MacDonald, vocalist for Tooth & Nail newcomers The Classic Crime,
says he wants his band to have stats like the albatross, a bird with a fourteen foot wingspan and
an eighty year life span. It’s an impressive and gutsy goal, but unfortunately, neither of those
words can rightfully describe their debut album, Albatross.

The Classic Crime sounds eerily similar to Fall Out Boy… MacDonald’s voice, the musical
arrangements, everything. Compare "All the Memories" to Fall Out Boy’s "Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down,"
and to call them the "Christian Fall Out Boy" by no means sounds like a stretch. For those
unfamiliar with mainstream’s latest media child, Fall Out Boy is an aggressive four-piece pop/rock
outfit with a knack for writing melodic, yet toe-tapping tunes. There are differences between the
two acts, of course (The Classic Crime is a bit more intense), but it’s similar enough at times to
make you do a double take.

But while musically they may sound like a carbon copy, lyrically, The Classic Crime gets a lot
right. Songs like "Who Needs Air?" convey the exhilaration of having a desperation for Christ,
"And I stand alone before the night. My nakedness is so clear in the glow of the moonlight.
Life is old but so short. We are young. We want more. I'm drowning, but I don't care, because when
you got what I got, who needs air?" And "The Fight" portrays the disciples answering the call
of Christ, "Would you cry for the weak? Die for the peace of men? I'll take my heart back and
set the people free. I'll leave the dead to die and take who's coming with me."

Discerning parents will be excited to hear about this new Christian alternative to the usually
sexually charged messages of Fall Out Boy, and I won’t pretend that it doesn’t excite me. Seeing
so many of my peers into MTV’s latest trend is somewhere between disheartening, and just plain
annoying. But, on artistic merit alone, The Classic Crime is a letdown. There is potential for
growth, absolutely. The lyrical quality assures that things only look up from here. But for now,
unless desperate for a mainstream alternative without the mainstream message, you will want to let
this one pass you by.